Boston Man Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison for Firearm Trafficking Conspiracy

BOSTON – A Boston man was sentenced today for conspiring to illegally transport firearms from Alabama into Massachusetts.

Kobe Smith, 25, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In March 2024, Smith pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to illegally transport firearms. Smith was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2022 along with co-defendants Jahquel Pringle, Jarmori Brown and Brandon Moore.

Smith, Pringle, Brown and Moore conspired to obtain at least 24 firearms from Alabama, where Moore lived, and then transport them to Boston. Smith would place orders with Moore for firearms. In January 2020, after making arrangements with Smith, Moore personally delivered at least one firearm obtained in Alabama to Pringle in Boston. In February 2020, Smith attempted to obtain one or two additional firearms from Moore. In two separate trips in July and August 2020, Pringle traveled from Boston to Alabama on a commercial bus to pick up firearms from Moore and then transported them, concealed in luggage, back to Boston. Pringle was joined by Brown for the August trip. At least seven of the firearms have been recovered from the streets of Boston and surrounding communities. 

In July 2023, Brown was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In May 2024, in the Middle District of Alabama, Moore was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In June 2024, Pringle was sentenced to 42 months in prison and three years of supervised release.  

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and James M. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. This case was prosecuted by the Major Crimes Unit.
        
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce gun violence and other violent crime, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.  For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.